Oozing condescension, Baker confessed herself a “little taken aback because this is the first fanatical statement I’ve heard from Rose since I hopped into her Hyundai an hour before,” and “I was prepared for extremism.”

“Fanatical.” “Extremism.” They’re the kind of words often applied to abortion opponents, and indeed, over the last year there’s been a drastic increase in violent attacks over the abortion issue.

The problem is that fanatical extremism is taking the form of violence against pro-lifers. Peaceful protestors exercising their First Amendment rights have been repeatedly physically attacked.

Just in July there have been five attacks against pro-lifers without any mention in major media outlets. But what was news? What were the major news outlets – say, ABC, CBS and NBC – covering instead?

The divorce of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.

ABC covered the Cruise divorce 59 times in July, and reporters mused obsessively over the couple’s scientology background. NBC devoted 39 stories to the Cruise divorce. While CBS reported on the Cruises just three times, it, like ABC and NBC, made no effort to cover the increasing attacks on pro-life conservatives.

NBC’s Lester Holt gushed on a July 8 episode of Dateline, “In a summer of blockbusters, it’s Hollywood’s biggest cliffhanger, the real-life split of Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise. Friends say there’s a lot more at stake than a movie star breakup. A child’s fate hangs in the balance.”

While the media was busy slobbering over a failed celebrity marriage, vandals attackedPersonhood USA leaders Keith and Jennifer Mason’s home while the family was asleep. Pro-abortion fanatics heaved a rock through the Mason’s double-paned front door which shattered glass across their home.

The criminals then spray painted vulgarities in large letters, and crude depictions of coat hangers on the front and sides of the Mason’s house. The Masons have three small children, and Jennifer was pregnant with their fourth child at the time of the attack.

The vile attack on the Masons followed a Newsweek profile about Personhood’s mission to pass state amendments certifying that life begins at conception.

The Masons are the latest casualties of what is becoming an increasingly savage abortion debate, one of many that the media refuses to acknowledge.

Kate Bryan, Communications Director for LiveAction, told CMI, “You never see these attacks against pro-lifers covered in the media. The journalist from The Daily Caller who kept interrupting Obama – that’s what the media treats as a violent attack, but these violent assaults against peaceful pro-life activists are never reported.”

LiveAction is the leading new media investigative and educational organization committed to the protection and respect of all human life.

Bryan was at the Supreme Court during the Obamacare ruling, and said she felt extremely nervous around the pro-choice activists. “Although one of my friends has a broken leg, an abortion activist approached her and threatened to step on her broken foot and kick it,” Bryan said. “The activist told my friend that by injuring her he would show her how great Obamacare really was.”

“This is the difference between pro-life and pro-choice, Bryan told CMI. Pro-life is always willing to dialogue, but the left is prone to vicious and violent attacks. This is their strategy,” she said.

Days after the attack on the Masons, 69-year-old Personhood volunteer Everett Stadig was brutally attacked while collecting petition signatures outside a grocery store. The pro-choice offender repeatedly cursed and yelled at Stadig before throwing him to the ground, fracturing the elderly man’s hip.

Kinn walked with a cane due to injuries sustained to both of his knees. He and other pro-lifers were passing out fliers at a concert when they were told to leave. They did, but Kinn’s handicap did not allow him to exit the event fast enough for the venue’s owner, who pushed him roughly. Kinn was taken to the hospital immediately following the assault with injuries to one of his reconstructed knees.

The group 40 Days for Life is regularly targeted for their peaceful gatherings. South Carolina abortionist Gary Boyle pointed a loaded gun at peaceful 40 Days for Life participants outside his clinic in June. Boyle was only charged with a misdemeanor and fined $100 for his threats.

In Montana an abortion-backer tossed a homemade firebomb at 40 Days for Life participants last March. Their offense? Praying outside an abortion clinic.

“There is a lot of violence against those who don’t choose abortion,” Kristi Hamrick, spokesperson for Americans United for Life, told CMI. “The pro-choice movement will go to extreme lengths if you don’t make their choice. It’s time we acknowledge this openly,” she said.

“Two years after incensing pro-life conservatives and believers in limited government, the Department of Homeland Security has funded another report fingering anti-abortion groups, “fundamentalists,” and those “suspicious of centralized federal authority” as sources of potential terrorism,” wrote Ben Johnson of LifeSite.

Got that? Anti-abortion groups, fundamentalists and small government proponents are powder kegs that could go off at any time. Unlike this peace-loving liberal who respectfully disagreed with lawfully assembled religious opponents of ObamaCare by screaming “Get the hell outta here!” and shoving one of them to the ground.

LifeNewsNote: Lauren Thompson writes for the the Culture and Media Institute.